Airline Ratings: World’s Best Airlines 2026

[MEL_Traveller]

Well… it’s here! World's Best Airlines for 2026 by Airline Ratings

Get out the popcorn

Qatar #1 because of its value proposition, economy class, and award-winning business class. Not sure of the value proposition from Australia?

News.com(.au) has reported on the ratings, and says they are determined not from passenger feedback, but the airlinesratings team having flown or measured everything objectively.

Can’t seem to find that bit in the main article.

Anyway… enjoy.

 

[dajop]

Get out the popcorn

Indeed!

They have created different category for "hybrid" airlines which they state "hybrid airlines offer a mix of onboard service, modelling low cost or full service depending on the length of flight."

Yet AIr New Zealand is considered Full Service! What a load of absolute rubbish. They fit their exact definition of hybrid. Destroys any credibility IMHO.

Another anomaly I'm not sure I'd rank Air France as "full service" and Swiss as "hybrid". They seem very similar to me as do all the big 3 (LH/LX, AF/KL, BA/IB etc). One point of contrast IME in last 12 months, the "hybrid" carrier offered a full hot meal on a 2.5hr euro-business flight (OSL-ZRH) whilst the other "full service" carrier only offered a cold salad on a 3hr euro-business flight (CMN-CDG).! YMMV.

 

[chitown_boy]

Indeed!

They have created different category for "hybrid" airlines which they state "hybrid airlines offer a mix of onboard service, modelling low cost or full service depending on the length of flight."

Yet AIr New Zealand is considered Full Service! What a load of absolute rubbish. They fit their exact definition of hybrid. Destroys any credibility IMHO.

Another anomaly I'm not sure I'd rank Air France as "full service" and Swiss as "hybrid". They seem very similar to me as do all the big 3 (LH/LX, AF/KL, BA/IB etc). One point of contrast IME in last 12 months, the "hybrid" carrier offered a full hot meal on a 2.5hr euro-business flight (OSL-ZRH) whilst the other "full service" carrier only offered a cold salad on a 3hr euro-business flight (CMN-CDG).! YMMV.

TBF Air NZ has full service pricing

 

[cambriamarsh]

TBF Air NZ has full service pricing

On steroi_s! Often twice as dear or more than JQ

 

[Scarlett]

Can one of the mods please fix the spelling in the title. Driving my ocd crazy…

Thanks.

 

[markis10]

Why give air to another GT piece of rubbish, ps OP can fix the title

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Why give air to another GT piece of rubbish, ps OP can fix the title

To what?

 

[HS-TQE]

Air New Zealand would be closer to Virgin Australia's hybrid "Value Carrier" (LCC+ status) when it comes to their domestic and Short Haul International offerings.

Like with VA, NZ's Domestic/Short Haul Economy is basically LCC with PAYG, although NZ's business on Short Haul International is basically just their Long Haul product on their Widebodies.

 

[WilsonM]

This list hurts my head. There's so many non-sensical things - Qatar's Y, for example, doesn't really hold much compared to JL, CX or SQ. And as pointed out, NZ being a full service carrier is laugable.

I also absolutely despise LH being ranked highly for its Allegris seat - congrats, they installed a lie-flat seat with direct aisle access on a tiny fraction of its fleet. In 2026.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

How can Air France and KLM be in ‘full service’ yet BA and Swiss are in hybrid?

All four offer basic euro economy and full service in longer routes. There is no distinction.

Has the team at airline ratings actually flown any of these carriers they’re ranking?

 

[justinbrett]

Skytrax, hold my beer…

 

[WilsonM]

How can Air France and KLM be in ‘full service’ yet BA and Swiss are in hybrid?

All four offer basic euro economy and full service in longer routes. There is no distinction.

Has the team at airline ratings actually flown any of these carriers they’re ranking?

They're based in WA, so honestly, my guess is they haven't flown many of them. So instead I reckon they base it off US bloggers - for example, they for some reason at the moment love Air France/KLM as they have decently priced J awards across the Atlantic that you can get with multiple transferable points currencies with a CC.... oh.

 

[RooFlyer]

Ignoring the categorisation etc, what about the overall rankings, based on what we know, have read around here and poking around the internet?

For their 'full service' list, the top 10 seems pretty reasonable to me - not every rank, but generally.

For their hybrid list, those that I've flown on, mostly it hasn't been for a while, but it generally doesn't gel with my thoughts at all.

 

[markis10]

They're based in WA, so honestly, my guess is they haven't flown many of them. So instead I reckon they base it off US bloggers

Poor guesses from zero research. They have real journalists on staff based yes in WA but also in the UK and Singapore they have contributing writers and have a lot of editorial reviews, can’t see any blogger content.

 

[chitown_boy]

How can Air France and KLM be in ‘full service’ yet BA and Swiss are in hybrid?

All four offer basic euro economy and full service in longer routes. There is no distinction.

Has the team at airline ratings actually flown any of these carriers they’re ranking?

And AF serve cold mains in Euro J (SHAME!) whereas BA at least serve a hot meal - got them totally mixed up!